Various combinations of articles have been used for the cleaning, buffing and polishing of hard surfaced materials. Cleaning and polishing “kits” may typically comprise three separate components. For example, such kits may comprise a container, such as a bottle or tin, to hold the cleaning composition or polishing composition, an applicator to deliver the composition to the hard surface and to spread the composition on the surface, and a polishing article used to remove a cleaning composition and/or buff a polishing composition into the surface while removing excess polishing composition. As a specific example, a shoe polishing “kit” may consist of a tin or other container of shoe wax or polish, a small brush, a sponge or a first cloth to be used as the polish applicator, and a second larger brush or second cloth to be used for polishing or buffing the waxed shoe surface to a shiny appearance.
However, such cleaning/polishing kits as described above are bulky and consume valuable space, particularly when a user is traveling and the actual need is only for a small touch-up application of cleaner and/or polish to attend to a surface blemish obtained during travel. Also, it is possible for one or more of the various components of such cleaning or polishing kits to become separated and lost from the others, rendering the kit essentially useless. Furthermore, such cleaning/polishing kits are designed for many instances of use, and where the kit is only infrequently used the cleaning and/or polishing composition is subject to spoilage or desiccation, such that only a few uses are obtained before the remainder of the kit must be discarded as waste. Also, with infrequent use, the applicator may become encrusted with desiccated residual amounts of the polish and so become stiff and unusable.
Recently, all in one treating devices capable of holding or containing an impregnated polish, such as a cleaning and/or polishing composition, have been disclosed. The all in one treating device can deliver the polish to a surface to be cleaned and/or polished and/or otherwise treated, and then be utilized to buff or polish the surface. The mitt may also be utilized to deliver a polish that is intended to be delivered to or spread upon a surface and then allowed remain upon the surface as a temporary or permanent treatment.
However, these all in one treatment devices can be subject to several drawbacks. For example, mold, fungus, or other organisms can grow in and/or on the all in one treatment device, especially when left unused for an extended period (e.g., several months), since the polish is applied and stored or packaged in a wet or damp state. Alternatively, or additionally, the impregnated polish can wick, or otherwise migrate, to undesirable areas of the mitt, such as bond lines, nonbuffing areas, etc.
As such, a need exists for a polish that resists mold, fungus, or other growth, even after an extended period of non-use, and even if applied to or impregnated within a mitt. Also, a need exists for an all in one treatment device having an impregnated treatment composition that does not substantially wick, or otherwise migrate, to undesired locations on the treatment device.